Kyle Ma is excited about his first solo show this summer. It’s a memorable milestone for many artists, but there’s one thing that makes Ma’s debut at Wilcox Gallery in Jackson, WY, especially noteworthy: The Texas-based painter is just 16 years old, and by all accounts he’s the new wunderkind on the art block. In the past several years he has won awards in both BoldBrush and RayMar fine-art competitions. And this year one of his paintings was juried into the Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition.

Ma has a loose, expressive style and is equally comfortable portraying landscapes, still lifes, buildings, and animals. “Instead of looking for a subject, I let the subject find me,” Ma says. “I like to depict light and different atmospheres. I look at a scene and like to spend some time studying and analyzing it abstractly.”

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ma was 10 when his family moved to the United States seeking more opportunities. The artist says he spoke English but not well. At first Ma took art classes at his elementary school, but he soon found that he wanted more in-depth study than his classmates. So, at 11, his parents enrolled him in a workshop with painter Elizabeth Locke. Last summer Ma studied with Scott Christensen at his Idaho studio.

As this story was going to press, the young artist was wrapping up his sophomore year at an Austin-area high school. To say he is busy is an understatement. His school days include five advanced-placement classes followed by practice with the marching band, where he plays the euphonium. Ma then comes home, does homework, and paints until midnight. The schedule can be tiring, he admits, but Ma says that being able to create art brings him through challenging times.

When asked what he hopes to convey in his artwork, Ma has a ready answer: “I just want to convey the beauty of what I see. People can go through life and never realize how beautiful the world actually is. I want viewers to realize what’s out there.” —Bonnie Gangelhoff

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Gradually, the artist found less and less satisfaction in merely “painting what I thought would sell.” That’s when he began turning back to the mostly American Indian-inspired figurative works that the East Coast gallery owner had warned him to avoid.